Raindrops
by MidoriPanda
Summary: Itachi is dead. Team 8 brings the new to Konoha and Inuzuka Hana is the first one to know about it. ItaHana and GenmaHana.


**Disclaimer:** _Characters (c) Masashi Kishimoto_

_**A/N: **I wanted to write about Hana, Itachi and Genma at some point, and well, I'm not feeling quite well... emotionally, I mean. I needed to let it all go, and this quite helped me. I guess it's because of school -.-_

* * *

**.+Bitter Rain+.  
**

It had been raining all day. She was sure it was not going to stop any sudden. She had closed the clinic hours ago, since no one in the village dared to go out of their houses to take care of a sick puppy or a lost cat which needed medical attention.

The little idiot and his friends were out on a mission… a mission to retrieve one traitor and a mission to kill a murderer…

If it was not the man she loved so much when she was younger the one they had to kill, the woman would not be worried that much, glancing at the window, just waiting for her little brother to come running towards home completely soaked in rain and blood… maybe carrying a corpse or two in the back of his enormous dog.

But ours passed and the boy didn't arrive. It had been almost three days since they set off to find those two…

She sighed. Her mom was also in a mission with Kuromaru, and the Haimaru triplets were already asleep… the Inuzuka house was so cold and lonely when it rained. Hana left her cup of tea down, it was completely empty now.

The lights had also gone off some minutes ago… it'd be creepy, but she was already grown up to fear the darkness… and she was a skilled ninja, after all, it should not be scary. But somehow, being so lonely in a house where it was always noisy made her feel quite empty.

The door opened with a slam and Kiba entered furiously into the house, Akamaru coming close behind with his head down.

"Hi, brat…"

"Hi." He grunted angrily. "You two, come in!" he ordered the other two of the team who glanced into each other nervously. Sure they knew Kiba; it was not intelligent to come close to him when he was getting moody.

"How was it?"

"Horrible. We failed again."

"I supposed… I'm sorry."

"Never mind… we just arrived late."

"Sasuke escaped?"

"Something like that…"

"He escaped just after he killed Itachi. Or the other Akatsuki took him. He was still alive and we failed!" Kiba crushed the wall with his fist.

"I-Itachi g-got killed?!" Hana stuttered standing up from her chair.

"Yeah, we fought again a guy with an orange mask and a guy who seemed an aloe Vera plant, and we heard them talking about one killing each other, that Itachi was already dead and that Sasuke was barely alive, but the bastard actually survived! We were going to catch him and failed!!" Kiba hit the wall again and shook his head. "Well, anyway, he's gone. Akatsuki has him. We can do a thing, so… We're going upstairs, Shino and Hinata are staying here until the storm is over, see you later…"

Hana stood up, not letting her brother to see her face and opened the door. The Haimaru triplets had waken up and tried to follow her, but she told them to stop. Kiba watched her burst out when he turned around at the sound of the cup of tea Hana had on her hands crushing against the floor.

"HANA, DON'T!" He screamed, trying to reach for her, but she had already run off. "We're in the middle of a typhoon, Hana, you idiot! You're going to get killed!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, but Hana was already streets away from the Inuzuka house.

She ran across the forest, across the fields, across the whole village, just to get away. She had to escape from the pain… Kiba probably thought she was crazy but he was ignorant of her feelings… she had never told anybody. And she wouldn't. She reached a cliff… a cliff where she had spent many nights at since she was a genin, a cliff where they both were happy, a place that was _theirs_ before the massacre.

Hana reached the place and stopped beneath the tree. She knew it was bad to stop beneath a tree in the middle of a storm, especially one that dangerous, but she didn't care. She panted heavily and grunted. She raised a fist and hit the tree, making it to fall down. If was not that she had the Hokage's, or Sakura's super strength, anyway, the tree was really old, it'd fall with just a single hit like that.

A thunder fell nearby, but Hana did not even whimper. She started to sob, trying to hold the tears back, but it was useless.

She panted again, this time was not because of running, she was not agitated now, but because of having to hold back those bitter tears.

"WHY?!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, she was not able to hold it back anymore.

The Inuzuka heir sat on the trunk she had just hit down and started to cry out loud on it.

She saw this coming, but she never expected it to come so early. She knew he was dying, she knew everything. Even if he never ever told her about his mission, Hana knew everything about the Uchiha. But he was gone, to a place he'd never come back.

"W-why….?" She asked herself.

Damn him! Damn him and his clan! Screw his mission, screw ANBU, and screw Sasuke… just… damn it all…

She knew all along Itachi's plans to eradicate the clan because of the orders the elders gave her. She never told anybody, not even Tsume, she didn't even told the same Itachi!

If she had been able to stop him that night, maybe the whole Konoha might have been able to stop the civil war the Uchiha clan was planning, but she was a coward. He was already above her by the time they were fifteen, but she never forgot when they were put on the same team. The day they went on their first mission. The many times they helped and saved each other from the enemy's hands… she'd never forget it all… and she'd never forgive herself for being such a fool.

If she had only stopped him…

"You told me you'd come back…" She muttered. "You said… you said you were going to return safe from the mission…" Hana smashed her palm against her forehead to ease the internal pain. "… Even if you didn't even tell me what was it about…" She covered her eyes with her hands and shook her head. "…WHY DIDN'T YOU TAKE ME WITH YOU, ITACHI?! WHY?!"

The storm had stopped, but the rain was still falling rash and hard down on her. She had to admit it. It was already late. Itachi was gone, and she could do nothing. Gone.

"What am I supposed to do now?" She muttered. "I knew you couldn't come back. But… I expected to see you just one last time…" She roared in furry, smashing a fist against the trunk again. "…but you never came back! Damn you Uchiha Itachi!!" She screamed, making some birds to fly away from the cup of a tree in the forest.

"Talking to yourself will bring no good, Inuzuka."

"Shiranui… how did you find me?"

"You were screaming. I saw your little brother searching for you among with your dogs and his team. I was worried."

"Why?"

"You're my friend, aren't you? That's why."

"Che…"

"So you've heard. About his death."

"Yeah…"

"We knew it was coming, Hana, he's a missing nin."

"Genma…" She muttered. The jounin came besides her and sat by her side in the almost destroyed trunk. "… It was my fault."

"Your fault?"

"I knew about his mission. We were here just a night before the massacre. He told me it was a dangerous mission that he might not come back from, but I made him promise… I made him promise he'd return. If I had… If I had stopped him, Genma, this would have never happen! It's my fault!" She whimpered resting her head on his shoulder. Genma patted her head and shook his head.

"It's not your fault. Stop crying, Hana." He surrounded her with one arm and help her to stand up. "Come on, let's go, I'll walk you home."

"Genma…"

"Yes?"

"It_ is_ my fault."

"Hana, it's not your fault. He did that to protect you. He… Itachi seriously loved you. Probably I'm not the one to tell you that, but he trusted me to tell you that once he knew you were not able to follow him. His path was dangerous, and he appreciated you so much it'd be cruel to take you with him and risk the life of the person who was precious to him."

"But he did risked his own brother's life."

"Because he needed to get strong. You've always been strong, Hana."

"Genma…"

"What?"

"Thank you…"


End file.
